Pete McMartin: The Hunt for an honest man (in politics)

Pete McMartin, Vancouver Sun columnist07.08.2013

B.C. Liberals Marvin Hunt, left, and Amrik Virk point to supporters as they celebrate their election victory at Eaglequest Coyote Creek golf club in Surrey on May 14, 2013. Hunt, the Surrey-Panorama MLA, is staying on as a Surrey councillor but donating his civic salary back to the city.

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It’s been a bad year for politicians. The damage has been entirely self-inflicted. Two words:

The.

Senate.

(It’s three words if you include “jackasses.”)

No surprise then that politics, as a subject of discussion among Canadians, now comes up in conversation as often as prostate exams. No one wants to go there.

According to a study done by Samara, “a charitable organization,” as it bills itself on its website, “that works to improve citizen engagement with democracy,” a whopping 60 per cent of Canadians responded that they haven’t discussed a political issue in the last year. (The other 40 per cent said they had if you counted the voting on American Idol as “political.” Which, by the way, it clearly is!)

But not all politicians are larcenous. Some are even worthy of admiration, and when you find one that is, they deserve to be noted, if only to be fair.

Which brings us to Marvin Hunt.

Hunt is from Surrey. He is 61. He was two years on the school board and 23 years on Surrey council. He has a reputation as a thoughtful councillor who does his homework, and as one willing to take on difficult issues. For example, he led the Zero Waste initiative in Metro Vancouver to reduce waste and raise recycling rates to 70 per cent.

He was, at one time, an evangelical pastor, and has six children with his wife, Ruth. In 1996, when he decided to devote all his time to politics and treat his councillor’s job as a full-time gig, he relegated his family to official poverty status. His salary was $27,000.

“I immediately punched myself below the poverty level because I saw it as a job that needed to be full-time. And raising six children on $27,000 ... well, you can do the math.”

Lately, his fortunes have improved. While still a councillor, Hunt ran as a Liberal in the last provincial election. He won his seat in Surrey-Panorama.

The job comes with an annual salary of $101,859, not including expense account, benefits and pension.

One small detail:

Hunt is still a Surrey councillor, and is being paid as such. His annual council salary is $64,166. Despite his new job in Victoria, Hunt has indicated that, while working as an MLA, he will continue to stay on as a councillor and work for the City of Surrey until early next year, when he will resign his councillor’s seat — for reasons I will get to in a moment. Until then, he will endeavour to do both jobs, which, while rare, is not unheard-of in B.C. politics. And while he does both jobs, he is entitled to receive salaries for both.

But funny thing:

Rather than accept the remainder of his civic salary between now and early next year, Hunt will donate what civic salary he would have received back to the city. He is doing it on principle: He feels he shouldn’t be double-dipping. The amount he will give back will be somewhere between $30,000 and $35,000.

In effect, he will be working for free for the City of Surrey between now and 2014.

He decided to give back the money, he said, when he began his campaign for provincial office.

And he decided to attempt to do the councillor’s job up until early 2014, he said, because it would obviate the need for a byelection to replace him. The next Surrey civic election is in November 2014, and as long as council can form a quorum in that calendar year, no byelection need be held. If Hunt resigned during the 2013 calendar year, a byelection would have to be held.

So, by staying on until 2014, Hunt saved Surreyites the cost of a byelection — somewhere between $600,000 and $700,000.

“I’ve been frugal all my life,” Hunt said, “and that’s how I work in politics, also. And I just can’t see starting my work as a provincial politician in Victoria by handing my constituents a bill for $600,000.”

To remain a councillor, Hunt must not miss four council meetings in a row. He will miss his first this week because the legislature is sitting, but he believes he’ll be able to adjust his schedule.

“I believe many politicians are already doing two jobs. There are very few of us doing full-time politics: Outside of councils in big cities like Vancouver and Surrey, many local politicians have two jobs.”

Which is to say, there are good, principled politicians out there. Hunt’s one of them.

Of course, Hunt isn’t perfect: the Canadian Taxpayers Federation blasted him in June for racking up $5,467.32 in business-class airfare and $3,960 in “meeting fees” for a 2011 trip to Florence, Italy. Hunt, in his defence, said he was a last-minute stand-in for Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, and arranged for business class so he could sleep on the plane and arrive refreshed.

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